The Eagle Cap Excursion Train is a

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

service located in Wallowa,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, operated on a line from

Elgin Elgin may refer to: Places Canada * Elgin County, Ontario * Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Chatham-Kent, Ontario * Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario ...

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the m ...

. The line is owned by the Wallowa Union Railroad (WURR), a public entity, which acquired it from private owners in 2002. The first excursion train was operated in 2003.

History

The

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

(UP) came to Union County in July 1884 when the main line between

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

and

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

passed through La Grande. The

Oregon Railway and Navigation Company The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (OR&N) was a railroad that operated a rail network of running east from Portland, Oregon, United States, to northeastern Oregon, northeastern Washington, and northern Idaho. It operated from 1896 as a ...

(OR&N) began construction on a branch line north to

that was opened in December 1890. The OR&N itself was dissolved and its assets taken over by both the UP and the

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, w ...

(NP) with the line from La Grande to Elgin transferring to the UP. UP extended the line over the next two decades north and east to Wallowa by 1908 and eventually to

Enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterprise ...

and

. Under UP operation, the line was commonly referred to as the "Joseph Branch". UP identified the Joseph Branch for divestiture or abandonment in the late 1980s or early 1990s. In 1993, the line was sold to the railroad holding company

Rio Grande Pacific Corporation The Rio Grande Pacific Corporation is a railroad holding company. Rio Grande Pacific Corporation plans, designs, implements, manages and operates short line railroads in the United States. The company was founded in 1986 with railroads in six state ...

(RGPC) of

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

. RGPC created the

Idaho Northern and Pacific Railroad The Idaho Northern and Pacific Railroad (reporting mark: INPR) is a small railroad in southwestern Idaho and eastern Oregon in the United States. It owns 120 miles of former Union Pacific branch lines, and is a subsidiary of the Rio Grande Pacifi ...

to operate over the Joseph Branch & the payette to Cascade line in idaho In 1997 the Joseph Branch was identified for abandonment later that year from Elgin to Joseph following the closure of the mill in Joseph. The county governments in Union and Wallowa counties wanted to preserve this important transportation link and put together a proposal to purchase the of abandoned railroad. After acquiring the line in 2002, the counties and their respective economic development agencies and chambers of commerce sought potential operators of either a short line (class III) railroad or a

, which would offer tourist excursions. The latter option was successful and the Eagle Cap Excursion Train began on August 3, 2002, six years after abandonment. The 2003 season began on May 17, 2003 under initial operation by Idaho Northern and Pacific railroad until the county could buy and equip locomotives and it continued in the fall of that year. The first full season of operation began in May 2004. The excursion trains are powered by diesel gp7 locomotives, which are stored in Elgin when not in use. Through the 2008 season, three of the passenger cars used in each train were

Budd Rail Diesel Car The Budd Rail Diesel Car, RDC, Budd car or Buddliner is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcar. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The cars were primarily adop ...

s (RDCs), a self-propelled type of rail car. These three cars were not used in 2009 and 2010, and were sold in 2013 to the Idaho Northern and Pacific Railroad for use on its Payette River Flyer. As of 2010, the service was scheduled to operate on 11 days per summer season. The service was operating between Elgin and a location known as Kimmel, and a round trip excursion took about 3 1/2 hours. A "Santa Train" is operated in December (as of 2011), although it has been suspended in some years due to lack of sponsorship. As of May, the 2012 season of regular excursions was scheduled to begin on June 23.

References

External links

Eagle Cap Excursion Train
{{coord, 45.567, -117.918, type:railwaystation_region:US-OR, display=title Heritage railroads in Oregon Transportation in Wallowa County, Oregon Tourist attractions in Wallowa County, Oregon Tourist attractions in Union County, Oregon Transportation in Union County, Oregon 2003 establishments in Oregon

History

See also

References

External links